Film School

D. W. Griffith may have invented the "blockbuster" with Birth of a Nation, but it was this film with which he invented the epic. Intolerance is 3+ hours of sprawling story covering love, injustice, excess, five time periods, and some of the biggest sets ever created for film. It cost him 2 million dollars to make in 1916 . . . a price tag he never recovered from. It's an epic failure, perhaps . . . but it's still an epic, and one of the most formative feature films in history.

Wondering where to start with the bottom half of the AFI's Top 100 films? We've got you covered! Before we dive into the top 50, we take a look back at the first 50 films we've watched, and recommend the ones we enjoyed the most, PARTICULARLY the films you may not have even heard of or otherwise may not watch unless you're doing the AFI list. There's some really, reeeaaalllyyy great movies on there. Don't miss out!

The starving artist, locked away in his tenement apartment, not a penny to his name, suffering for his art because that's how genius is made. That's what we all must strive for. Right? That's the only way to create a masterpiece. Right???

Maybe not.

Consistency is key. Spock would accept that as an axiom. So, if that's a truth we all agree upon, the question naturally becomes: HOW? How do we do something with consistency? Josh and Ira discuss what consistency means to them, and how they've found it in their own lives.

The groove, the zone, where the work is sublime and it's easy and plentiful and everything is working and we are a GENIUS. Some call it the "Muse." Others call it "Inspiration," or "Serendipity." It can feel otherworldly, like tapping into the power of the goddamn universe. So...IS it magic? Is it something that's entirely out of our control? Or is it something we can create ourselves, something we can engineer? We tackle it today!

What makes a good villain? What makes a GREAT one? From understanding that they're the hero of their own story to unpredictability and danger, we examine the villains we love to hate, and what makes us feel that way.

What exactly do you get out of rewrites? Why do them? The term "rewrite," "edit," or "revision" can come with some negative juju, particularly when we've already spent so much time writing the first draft. You mean...I have to go back and write it AGAIN?! Today, we tackle the gold that can come out of rewrites, how to handle when your story changes--because it will change--and where is the sweet spot between a first draft that works, and a rewrite/edit that takes it the rest of the way home.

There is nothing more terrifying than the blank page. We all know this. So…how DO we get past that? How do we get from blank page to finished manuscript? There are many steps in between, and the first step might be the hardest: the first draft. This week, we talk about how to approach the first draft in a way that threads the needle between perfectionism and detachment to get past the blank page, at the very least. Because THEN…it can be fixed, right? Right.

A sellout is a traitor. The lowest of the low. We hate sellouts. ...right? Except, what does 'sellout' really mean? Who's sold out? The Roots? Nicholas Winding Refn? The Black Eyed Peas? Who gets to decide who's sold out? What about the crowd that loves their sellout work. And, if money is the problem...aren't we ALL trying to sell out if we're pursuing being a professional??? We roll up our sleeves this week and tackle the sellout. Yay or nay?

"They don't make 'em like they used to!" That certainly seems to be a common phrase these days when talking about the film industry. But...is it actually true? ARE movies not as good as they used to be? And if it is true, why is that??? OR...is it us who have changed? Have some viewers lost their ability to love new things? Or, perhaps, is it a combination of the two? We tackle the state of Hollywood this week!